Adult Halloween
These days a lot of adult Halloween couples costumes are based on Hollywood movie characters. And not just from horror films, although I expect to see a lot of Pennywise clowns from IT walking about this year! Suck it, coulrophrobes. Superheroes and their villains, Disney and video game characters all scream, I wish I was still a kid, much more effectively than skeletons and witches.
However, as we transgress towards our impending dystopian future, there’s an interesting correlation between the rise of social media and adult Halloween parties. A sort of hijack of what used to be “a fun day for the kids”. We’ll take Halloween, you keep Christmas. I imagine parents spend much less time and money on their children’s costumes now than their own. Find old white sheet, cut two holes in said sheet. There, kiddo, you’re a ghost! Says the elaborately dressed mama standing in her $200 Red Queen gown.
Halloween Queen
So we all have that friend who absolutely kills it with their Halloween costume, right? My friend in particular not only wins at Halloween every year, but she’s also a rock-climbing, sky-diving, gun-shooting, wave-surfing, shark-swimming, bodalicious badass babe who lives in Hawaii. I know, hard to believe she’s real but I can confirm that I’ve pinched her and yup, not a figment of my imagination. She’s blown me away with all her costumes over the years, and has kindly allowed me to share a few of them below! #girlcrush
Halloween Fails
First things first, party people. There are a few guidelines worth remembering regarding what constitutes a Halloween costume. Zombies, vampires, cops and robbers, witches, sexy dead or undead, monsters, serial killers, murderous doctors, dentists, nurses, horror movie icons, villains, skeletons, deadly aliens, priests, nuns, asylum dwellers, devils, demons, mummies, and ghosts… are all ok.
If your costume doesn’t relate to any of these, then it’s not a Halloween costume! It’s just a costume! There is nothing scary about dressing up as eggs and bacon, happy looking minions, pretty and unbloodied Jasmines, unicorns, or mermaids. Sorry, but someones gotta draw the line.
A general rule of thumb is that your character, at the very least, should either be dead or deadly. Halloween, after all, is about remembering the dead and everything about the dead and dying that creeps us out. The things that go bump in the night and make you spit out your pumpkin spiced latte and double-check that the doors are still locked.
10 Ideas for Halloween Couples Costumes
1. Hugh Hefner and his Playboy bunnies
Finally, a costume for every granddad and granddaughter duo. Too soon? I’m placing my bet that we’re going to see a lot of dead Hefner’s this Halloween. I had a look, and his silky red robe is sold out nearly everywhere! Whoever shows up at the party with the most bunnies wins.
2. Wednesday and Pugsley Addams
I’m a little Addams Family obsessed, truth be told. I happen to be a Wednesday child myself, so when choosing between Morticia or Wednesday, the choice was obvious. I had this dodgy, college-girl-looking outfit picked out before I started dating George. We had just gotten together and so I suggested he be Pugsley. I’m not sure what was creepier, that we chose a sibling costume, or that we actually look like siblings?
3. Poison Ivy and Batman
Batman is one of the most popular superheroes for Halloween. Like James Bond, he yields no special superhuman powers except for the power of infinite privilege, money and incredibly cool stuff. Rather than live the life of a Dan Bilzerian, Batman is a tortured, reclusive man with a long list of archenemies. Of all his foes, his female nemesis Poison Ivy is one of the most popular costumes for Halloween.
In contrast to the steady flow of Batman’s over the years, Poison Ivy only ever made one Hollywood film appearance in the 1997 film Batman & Robin. Critics hated the movie so much they accused it of killing Batman until 2005. Hate it or love it, Uma Thurman’s performance was so memorable, she’s still inspiring Halloween costumes 20 years on. That’s me and George on the left.
4. Harley Quinn and the Joker
Suicide Squad grossed 745 million dollars worldwide in 2016, while Margot Robbie’s performance as Harley Quinn grossed millions more in wet dreams… Suicide Squad was one of the biggest movie releases of 2016 and one of the most popular Halloween costumes last year. The Joker, of course, has been played by many big names including Jack Nicholson, Heath Ledger and most recently Jared Leto. Just try not to take the role too seriously…
5. Alice and the Mad Hatter
Alice in Wonderland is the one exception I’ll make when it comes to dressing up as non-violent, undead characters for Halloween. The reason is that the world of Halloween is not too dissimilar from Alice’s rabbit hole. Although a children’s tale, the story is much darker than it may seem, depending on your interpretation. The story is chock-full of characters to choose from, as nearly all make for great Halloween costumes!
6. Khal Drogo and Khaleesi
Despite a rather rough start, Khal Drogo and Khaleesi eventually fall in love in Game of Thrones, an outcome that again reminds us that it’s just a story and not real life. If you happen to be dating a buff giant or have a significant height difference, you’ll probably pull off this costume better than the couple on the far-right. Sorry couple on the far-right, but good effort.
7. Lana and Archer
Who? Lana and Archer! From Archer! Ahhh there are just too many people missing out on this one. If political incorrectness is your idea of funny, you will ROFL hard at this show. Archer and Lana work as extremely deadly undercover agents for, well, Archer’s mother. My Hawaii-based girl crush did a wicked Lana last year, and kudos to her husband, who we will briefly acknowledge before carrying on pretending he does not exist.
8. Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf
Although only half of this couple qualifies as dead or deadly, nothing that a bit of fake blood can’t fix! If your other half has been a bad boy this year, convince him that this is the best costume idea ever, and watch him sweat and squeal under his warm, suffocating wolf mask while you look pretty as a picture #revengeisabitch. You could do that, OR, if you have a male friend that’s this good at makeup, just leave your boyfriend at home.
9. Frankenstein and his Bride
This is definitely the most Halloweenie of my picks. Frankenstein and his bride is a brilliant classic from the 1930s written by Mary Shelley. The main costume elements are the conical black wig with white lightning streaks on either side, white clothes, a tall companion in black clothes, and a lot of makeup.
10. Neo and Trinity
The Matrix was a revolutionary movie that had each and every one of us bending over backwards in slow motion to mimic that famous slo-mo bullet scene. I still get a little excited when I see someone sporting a Matrix full-length leather coat in public, just because. These outfits are easy and mega cool, obvs. But wouldn’t it be sick, like really, really sick, if you could convince like 10 of your friends to dress up as the black-suited Agents, and show up at a party as Neo and Trinity with a gang of black-suits in tow?!?! Just remember, the blue pill takes you home.
Bonus! Scorpion and Kitana
Mortal Kombat is one of the most successful fighting franchises in the history of video games. It’s had a TV series and two movies, with a reboot rumoured for years. Princess Kitana and Scorpion are two of the most famous characters from the franchise and a really awesome costume duo for all the ninja warriors out there. Scorpion is yellow, Sub-Zero is blue.
Photo Credits: Feature Image Photo by Valeria Boltneva from Pexels. Costume images from Pinterest, myself and my awesome friend.
